In the Forbidden City of Beijing, in the afterglow of the setting sun, the palace of the supreme ruler of the Qing Dynasty is so majestic and magnificent. Emperor Guangxu took out the latest battle report in the study, and the army and the Japanese confronted each other on the front line of Chenghuan in Asan. The navy, on the other hand, has just fought for both sides. The young man who participated in the Beihai Parade 5 years ago is now the chief of the fast fleet of the Beiyang Fleet. Thinking of the situation back then, Guangxu was still a little dissatisfied with the outsider who made him lose face, but this is all a small section. Wartime. Being able to win is the last word. The Beiyang Fast Fleet is basically his design, selection, supervision, and final service. From the current point of view, the millions of taels of silver are worth it. The 3 ships of Guiyuan passed through three battles of Toshima, Incheon, and Izu Islands. (I didn't count the robbery of Japanese transport ships with Boss Peng) destroyed and damaged more than 10 enemy ships. It's a great achievement. Just when Guangxu was still imagining the majestic posture of the Beiyang Fast Fleet across the sea. Weng Tongyi lost no time in interrupting Guangxu's dream.

"Your Majesty, Li Zhongtang has come to collect the money again." As he spoke, Master Weng handed over a copy of the fold.

"Then allocate funds, now a qiē is focused on the war." Guangxu didn't even look at it, and just threw the fold aside.

"Although Li Zhongtang's Beiyang Second Division can fight, this silver is also like flowing water. And this year happens to be the Queen Mother's birthday, and the minister's household is really unsustainable. Weng Tonggong pleaded.

"The big birthday must be done, and this battle must also be fought. This was the first war that broke out since I ascended the throne. If we win, it will be just to raise the prestige of the Qing Dynasty. Guangxu frowned, suppressed the dissatisfaction in his heart and said.

"Then you can only borrow from foreign foreign banks." Weng Tongyi said tentatively.

"I don't care about this, as long as he Li Hongzhang can win, he can ask for as much silver as he wants." Guangxu can ignore Weng Tongyi's hardships, in his heart, if this Beiyang can win this battle, I am afraid that his emperor will be worthy of his name, right? At the same time, just when Guangxu was bent on fighting, and Weng Tongyi was bent on finding silver, the Empress Dowager Cixi and Rong Lu were also making their own calculations.

If you want to say that at the beginning of the war, Cixi was still thinking about how to live her birthday, how to consume the power of the Huai system in this war, and make Li Hongzhang more obedient, then now Cixi suddenly feels that the situation is a little out of control. The Huai Department has feudal officials, generals, armies, and navies. But why was the imperial court able to control Li Hongzhang? The fundamental reason is that the center is holding Li Hongzhang's money bag, and there are Liu Kun's holes outside. But judging from the current signs, after several years of operation, Li Hongzhang's Huai system has actually had some dominant situation.

Let's talk about money first, this Li Hongzhang not only made up the final payment of the three cruisers in the end, but also changed the equipment of the old Beiyang ships. That's a few million taels of silver. It is simply impossible to rely on the appropriation of funds from the imperial court. And since the start of the war, if nothing else, let's talk about the consumption of more than 30,000 Beiyang Army and that cruiser fleet in Korea. It's not a decimal. As a result, Li Hongzhang's money bag was still carried. So far, although it has been a compromise to ask the court for money. But a discerning person can see at a glance that Li Hongzhang's family background is still very thick. And the Beiyang New Army and the military industry in its hands are really impressive. Not only did it meet the needs of Beiyang's army expansion, but even Rong Lu's training army bought a lot of weapons from the Tianjin Machinery Bureau. In terms of economy and equipment, Beiyang has become an independent system. Moreover, the current Huai army is stronger than the Huai army of the year and the current training army of the remaining Hunan army and Ronglu. In addition, it has been supported by the Huai Department of Guangzhou, Taiwan, and Shanghai, and this Beiyang bottom gas group is very ah!!

And what about the Hunan system that the imperial court used to contain the Huai system? Let's not talk about the passive avoidance of the battle by the Nanyang Naval Division, that is, now let Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong pick up the troops in their hands, I'm afraid they will no longer be able to compete with Li Hongzhang, right? According to Cixi's intentions, it is best to let Beiyang and the Japanese fight and lose both. But some of Li Hongzhang's recent actions and hints made Cixi have to think carefully about this plan. …,

First of all, Li Hongzhang did not use all the troops in his hands to fight, plus some regimental training supported from the south, how can the new army and the old army in Li Hongzhang's hands add up to 70,000 people, right? But now there are only 30,000 on the North Korean side, and what about the remaining 40,000? It's all in Lushun! As for the navy, except for the descendant named Xu Jie who fought to the death with his own fleet and the Japanese, the main force of the Beiyang Fleet is the escort. And the main force of the Japanese did not fight! What does that mean? Cixi didn't understand military affairs, but Rong Lu saw something. In Rong Lu's view, Li Hongzhang still puts his hometown Lushun first. As long as Lushun is not lost. The main force of the Beiyang Sea and Land Division is still there. He Li Hongzhang's Beiyang is still the largest feudal town. As for the troops that he Li Hongzhang scattered? The Korean army could withdraw by water, while the cruisers, who went out to guerrilla, could use their speed to escape a possible pursuit. Although it has been hit hard now, it can be repaired, and in general, although he Li Hongzhang has also fought hard. But these forces can be taken back. In this way, Cixi's plan to make Beiyang and Japan fight to the death directly failed.

Second, if North Korea is lost, it doesn't matter whether the Beiyang troops in North Korea are completely annihilated or escape. What about this Northeast? He Li Hongzhang can guard the Liaodong Peninsula without moving, but the imperial court can't ignore the northeast. It was the land of Longxing in the Qing Dynasty, the hometown of the Manchus! If Li Hongzhang is dead or alive, the Northeast can only rely on the Eight Banners to fight, and others don't know what combat effectiveness these Eight Banners have, but her Cixi is very clear. It's okay for them to hunt and enclose them, but if there is a war? Forget it.

Third, Li Hongzhang resolutely fights the main battle, which is the same as Guangxu's opinion, you must know that Li Hongzhang turned out to be a post-party! Although there is a deep grudge between Weng Tonggong and Lao Li, but when Li Hongzhang and Guangxu agree on the same opinion, no matter what, he Weng Tongrong must have some blood. He is the main peace, if he pushes harder, will this Li Hongzhang change from the rear party to the imperial party. If this governor and the emperor are of the same mind, what else is she Cixi playing?

Based on the above three points, Cixi really didn't have the heart to continue to organize his birthday. So he recalled his henchmen and Rong Lu, who was training in Xi'an, to discuss countermeasures. But after discussion, Cixi and Rong Lu believed that they must not turn their faces with Li Hongzhang now, otherwise if Lao Li Zhen retreated to the Liaodong Peninsula, the Northeast would be empty. At least after the imperial court mobilizes Rong Lu's training army, it will be said that some of the Hunan troops will be transferred. In addition, on the issue of money, it is still necessary to squeeze out some of it. If you don't have money, who will give you your life to fight? And as far as it is to win over Li Hongzhang and prevent Beiyang from moving closer to Guangxu, Cixi must take action. As for the rest, let's put it aside for now. There is another thing that makes Cixi and Rong Lu scratch their heads. That is, Li Hongzhang asked the imperial court to relax the restrictions on the start of construction and setting up factories. Although Cixi also knew that Beiyang and those Chinese businessmen had a good relationship in recent years, judging from Cixi's experience, it was hard for her to believe that just a few businessmen could make Beiyang complete such a big expansion step. So for the sake of prudence, she still decided not to allow it first, but she did not restrict some of the actions below Beiyang. When the shape is clear, I am making a decision.

And what about Li Hongzhang in Tianjin Jingang Bridge? It's been a lot of trouble lately. If you want to say that Li Hongzhang didn't do his best, then he really wronged him, don't look at the tens of thousands of people in Liaodong, but from the current point of view, the transportation force and silver that Beiyang can mobilize cannot support more troops to fight in Korea, and the Beiyang troops in North Korea can only maintain the battle line. And the transportation problem that was now restricting the power of the Japanese army was finally solved with the heavy damage of Xu Jie's fast fleet. The sea lines of communication from the Japanese mainland to North Korea have been unimpeded, except for individual attack ships! And I heard that Russia has already helped Japan pass through the Japanese sea troops. As a direct result, Japan's maritime transportation capacity has greatly increased. For the foreseeable future, it was only a matter of time before the Japanese Army landed on a large scale in Korea, and its own 30,000 lone troops would eventually be exhausted. This is all Li Hongzhang's hard work, tens of thousands of Huai soldiers can't say no! What's even more worrying is the logistics and financial problems, my own closed disciple is playing well, but the money is spent like running water! The shells of the corresponding level in Weihai and the shells purchased from the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and the Jinling Machinery Bureau in the south were basically used in the operations of these months. Judging from the secret telegram of Guò Xu Jie and others, even if the Lang Weili fleet, which was pinned on high hopes, returned to sail, the ammunition it carried would probably not be able to support the operational needs of the fleet, although Lao Li and Xu Jie were already very concerned about logistics and supplies, but after all, they had not experienced a major war, and this had already deviated greatly from the first day in history, and Xu Jie's so-called memory was useless at all. Even if Luang Weli's fleet could completely defeat the Japanese navy after returning home, what would the hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops that had already landed in Korea do with the help of the Russians? It is sure to continue to fight, and my 30,000 people in North Korea are afraid that they will either die in battle or withdraw. Then a decisive battle will be fought in the northeast. So what does Lao Li need to do now? It's nothing more than three points, one is to get more supplies and silver. Another point is how to make the imperial court officially agree to the private mining and factory establishment! The third is how to continue to integrate the forces of the old Huai system, and at the same time continue to unite the Nanyang Chinese and the merchants of the south. So that Beiyang can get more help in the course of the future war.

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